Pointing out numbers from the Statistics Department which shows that over a third of Singaporeans marry foreigners every year, he said that Singapore can “expect a large number of children to have a choice of citizenship”, and that this could be an existential problem for Singapore “if the trend is towards renouncing citizenship” as it would have implications for our defence.He wondered why the Government was taking such a hard line stance on NS, and asked if it is because they “believe that it is important to compel people to serve National Service in the hope that once they have served it, there is less reason to give up Singapore citizenship”.

Calling it a migration arrow problem, Au said, “the fear is that Singapore is seen as a far less desirable place compared to most developed countries, and when people have a choice, there will be a net outflow. It punctures the pretence that we are in the same league as the developed world”.

Au does not think that avoiding NS is an important factor, but that the real question which needs to be addressed is, “why is Singapore not as attractive? What is wrong with this place that when people have a choice of another developed country, there is a tendency to choose the other — despite all our economic progress and claims of “liveability”?”